If it says something, it could be a fun hidden message or some mundane phrase that just looked sufficiently "alien" when rendered upside-down. If it's gibberish, it was probably used for the same reason (looked "alien" upside-down).

dysan wrote: Interesting trivia: the alien was made by one Tim Staffell who was unaware who it was for. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Yep, that's true. How mad is that?

Djdownsy wrote: dysan wrote: Interesting trivia: the alien was made by one Tim Staffell who was unaware who it was for. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Yep, that's true. How mad is that? ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=

That's actually a myth.

The alien was made by Alister Bowtell, a famous UK sculptor and prop-maker. He's even listed in the Fun In Space credits, both on the LP and the CD.

You can read them here (I double-checked my LP copy just to be certain):

I've no reason to doubt Tim whatsoever, but I suspect we're missing part of the story. Perhaps Tim created the original working model, and the design was improved upon and the finished article created by Allister Bowtell. Tim wouldn't be lying in that case, and neither would the sleeve notes for Fun In Space.

Gullibility and credulity are considered undesirable qualities in every department of human life -- except religion.

Hipgnosis was the design company responsible for the Fun In Space cover, as listed on the sleeve.

One reconciliation is that perhaps Hipgnosis had several such models made and Tim's was one, but it was not used (and Bowtell's was). The reason for the confusion, then, comes from the fact that both models were based on the same source material: the July 1980 issue of "Creepy" magazine, which appears on the back cover of Fun In Space, which Roger is reading.

You can see a copy of the original illustration at the bottom of the page.

So, basically, it's possible two or more people (Staffell and Bowtell) made similar looking models, as they'd have to look the same since they were both working from Jim Laurier's illustration, so if Tim later saw Allister's model on the cover, he'd naturally think, "Wait, I made that model!"